Like cells in a living structure, the house is a small but vital part of the larger street, neighborhood, and city. Whether urban or suburban, your home is part of a larger neighborhood structure and you can use these rhythms and structures to help give direction to your rebuilding efforts. Other houses in your neighborhood can offer examples of how to deal with site placement, relationship to the street, porches and climate responsive detailing, and aesthetic decisions. What’s more, it’s useful to be sensitive to your neighborhood’s history, scale, and regulations in order to integrate into and improve the quality of your neighborhood. Some neighborhoods are located in historic areas that fall under the jurisdiction of the Historic Districts and Landmarks Commission (to determine if you are in an HDLC zone see the website:
http://www.cityofno.com/Portals/Portal99/portal.aspx
Often there is the desire to replicate historic styles and vernacular ornaments when renovating or even building new structures. If you are looking to conform to traditional housing types there are a number of architectural salvage yards across South Louisiana where you may be able to find windows, doors, and ornaments. It should be noted, however, that often a house can use more modern or affordable housing materials and still integrate into its neighborhood. This can be done by relying on the scale of adjacent structures for ridge of roof and eave heights, for the amount and proportion of windows on the facade, and ideas for materials, covered outdoor spaces, finished floor height, and so on.